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About

Neil Hokanson holds a bachelors degree in Education from the University of South Dakota (1993) and a masters degree in Education with a focus on Instructional Technology from the University of Wyoming (2006). Neil will begin his 21st year of working in public schools and taught in the public school system for 13 years at the middle and high school levels as a social studies teacher in South Dakota and Wyoming. He extensively integrated technology in his classrooms for several years and served as an instructor for many staff development courses and presentations in the districts he taught in. As a school technology specialist Neil has provided training, support, and assistance in helping educators integrate technology in all subject areas and grade levels. Neil served as the educational technology director for the North Platte Public Schools in Nebraska from 2007-2012. He moved back to the classroom in the Fall of 2012 and currently embeds Andorid tablets, a BYOD networking solution, and continues to create an extensive tutorial library at Hokanson's American History in his classroom. He is the proud husband of Dianna, a veteran speech-language pathologist, and father of 5 beautiful children: Hannah, Charlie, Ronan, Nicholas, and Heather.

Contents

This site is a compilation of research documents, texts, and resources gathered along the journey to find ways to help people learn more effectively in an ever changing world. What is shared is not always new, neither will it always be the first place one may have come across it, but the information is presented as the author is introduced to the many forms of technology that exist and are created in this wonderful, fascinating universe! Citations and referring links will be honored to the best of the author’s ability. Please inform of any omissions so that they can be corrected immediately. Enjoy!

Quotes

"Out of clutter, find simplicity.
From discord, find harmony.
In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity."

-Albert Einstein

“The digital outcast is not somebody who doesn’t have access to the technologies; s/he is somebody who, after the access has been granted, fails to actualise the transformative potentials of technologies for the self or for others.”

-Nishant Shah, Research Director of the Centre for Internet and Society in India

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

-From the speech, “Citizenship in a Republic” (1910) by Theodore Roosevelt

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed here are the personal views of Neil Hokanson and Hokanson's Instructional Technology (H I T) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the North Platte Public School District.

Reference to any products, services, hypertext link to the third parties or other information by trade name, trademark, supplier or otherwise does not constitute or imply its endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation by me. Nor is an endorsement of me implied by such links. They are for convenience only, as an index in a public library.

Any information on this web site may include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Furthermore, the information may change from time to time without any notice.

Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, Neil Hokanson and Hokanson's Instructional Technology (H I T) takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.

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Video Streams

It has been quite sometime since I posted on this blog, and for good reason. I have been busy! Over 10 years ago I started this instructional technology site to share my learning from my master’s program at the University of Wyoming and my adventures as an instructional technology director for a school district. Life has thrown a few curves into my life’s plan along the way, but I still find myself in education but at the classroom level. Last summer, I gained new employment teaching world geography at Johnson Junior High School in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I was able to bring my family back to my home state and to leave the Sand Hills of Nebraska behind after almost a decade living there. My new exploits have brought me from teaching 8th grade American History to 7th grade World Geography, and I have spent most of the year developing a website and learning tools that can be found at http://oxpower.org (http://geosearcher.wordpress.com). I continue to use Quia (http://quia.com) for building most of my tutorials, the old and trusty Content Generator tutorial creator software, and make most of my presentations for students via Prezi (http://prezi.com). The summer, then school year, has flown by with a major move, and getting accustomed to a new school, students, and staff, but I feel right at home in my native state. The fall allowed myself and my family to attend almost every Wyoming Cowboy home football game, and we even caught a basketball game when the Cowboys were at home for the CBI tournament that they eventually won! I recently purchased a new computer (Mac Mini), and have been transferring and setting things up to keep rolling with technology (I shall share my adventures with that soon). So, there is an update for those that care, and for those that may have thought I had fallen of the face of the earth!

I was recently asked for a list of free and cheap instructional technology resources that I have found productive for use on computers. Here is a list in no particular order. I will share an app list (iOS & Android) later…

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